Home to Bald Knob

29 October 2011 | Bundaberg Cruising Yacht Club

After several hours of officials being onboard Meander, they were cleared to enter Australia and the quarantine flag was lowered. Three people came on board - immigration, customs, and quarantine - and it was all very civilized and easy, no problems at all. When the quarantine guy was going through the cupboards he stood up puzzled and asked how they managed to cross without any food. Their reply was....the Vanuatu-Bundaberg weight-loss program and they were only lucky they didn't get a westerly that prevented them making it to Oz. In actual fact, Ray has scoffed all the remaining fruit and veg before coming into the dock because it all would have been confiscated.

Sam and I had to wait a couple of hours before the guys could come off the boat. Ray did a double take when Sam went up the dock to take his lines...Sam's a little larger than when Ray saw him in the Caribbean in March. All the guys were keen for nice long, hot shower and then we settled in at the marina cafe for lunch. Pete and Brian were already coming home with us but Ray had not committed, waiting to see what the requirements of customs was in relation to importing the boat. As it turned out, the valuer was on site and gave us a valuation that we were happy with and Ray decided to come home with us too. That's a good thing, cos there was a heap to do at home before his welcome home Halloween Party this Saturday.

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Sailing Catamaran for sale

16 April 2011 | Mooloolaba, Queensland, Australia

Our 39 ft Prout Escale catamaran is now for sail. Go to www.boatpoint.com.au to check her out.

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39 Prout Escale for sale

14 April 2011 | Mooloolaba, Sunshine Coast, Australia

Meander is now nestled safely on a dock at the back of a private home in Mooloolaba having a well deserved break from her long voyage over the best part of four years. Sadly, she's for sale and is advertised on boatpoint.com.au but we'll be moving her over to the Mooloolaba Marina and holidaying on board for Easter. We certainly still carry fond memories of our life aboard.

We left Australia on April 29, 2007 to start our 'cruising the world' adventure with an attitude that life's too short and waiting until retirement might mean the adventure never happens. Sam turned 15 this year and we hope these travels will stay with him for life...in a good way. [...]We enjoyed eight months living and travelling in the U.S. by RV and then through the Intracoastal Waterways on our catamaran 'Meander' which we bought in Fort Lauderdale. We crossed the Gulf stream to the Bahamas at Christmas 2007 where we spent four months, along with our two week visit to Cuba. We launched off from San Salvador in the Bahamas to Bermuda, the first leg of our trans-Atlantic crossing that took 8 days. From Bermuda we took 18 days to cross to the Portugese Islands, the Azores. The final leg of the crossing took 8 days with us arriving in Cascais, Portugal on 16 July 2008. We had an interesting winter in the Mediterranean and, while we wouldn't recommend wintering here, we wouldn't have missed the experience. We went as far east as Greece then turned and headed out to the Canaries via Morocco. We crossed back across the Atlantic in December 2009 and spent some time in the Caribbean. Sam needs to get back with his friends and be back in a school for his final years of high school so he and I flew home in March. Ray brought the boat back through the Pacific with his two crew Simon (Australia) and Michael (Northern Ireland) and arrived just in time for his Halloween welcome home party. We're now settled for a few years up in the Sunshine Coast hinterland to get our son through his last years of school and settled into something he wants to do. Then, who knows, maybe we'll head off again.

Also travelling with us is our Shih Tsu Milo, a seasoned boat dog all the way from Australia and an avid fisherman. He's always the most enthusiastic when we land a fish or when the bait net is cast. Actually, he's even enthusiastic when we haven't caught anything. He adores dolphins and runs like [...]

a crazy dude around the boat. He is entranced with crabs and landed the label - Milo, goatslayer - after an incident in the Bahamas. Life would be very dull without him.